St. John's Opens Up Big East Tournament as #8 Seed vs. #9 Georgetown

New York, NY-- March Madness has officially arrived in the Big Apple, as the Big East Tournament officially gets underway at Madison Square Garden with the first game being the team from New York, the #8 St. John's Red Storm (13-18/7-11) taking on the #9 Georgetown Hoyas (14-15/5-11) on Wednesday at 7:00pm. (FS1)

 

Last weekend wasn't a nice ride-off into the Big East Tournament for the Johnnies, as they were defeated this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden while taking on the Providence Friars, 86-75 in a lowly performance by Chris Mullin's "young" club. The hometown star point guard Shamorie Ponds netted 29 points, and going 12 for 25 from the field. Junior transfer Bashir Ahmed was the second leading scorer of the game by putting up 18 points total in the game. Not much help was provided by all the Johnnies in that one, as they shot only 37% from the field. In the first half, St. John's shot 4-21 from the field and going 19%, only scoring 25 total points, which in the eyes of the NBA coaching staff, is "absolutely unacceptable".

 

For the Johnnies, they will be taking on John Thompson's Georgetown Hoyas, who came into MSG roughly 2 weeks ago, and were handed their 11th loss in Big East play by Mullin's squad, 86-80. The Johnnies are 56-51 all time against the Hoyas. They split the season series in the 2016-17 season, where both teams won at their respective home buildings (Verizon Center/Madison Square Garden). Johnnies are 1-5 against the Hoyas in Big East Tournament play dating back to the 1980 tournament.

 

St. John's has lost the last six games they have played in the Big East Tournament dating back to 2011, with losses to Syracuse, Pitt (old Big-East), Villanova, Providence twice, and Marquette just last year being ranked the #10 seed. The Johnnies need to have all hands on deck for this matchup as their history in the tournament remains quite murky heading into MSG. Top performers from Georgetown include the duo of Rodney Pryor and L.J. Peak, who combined for 42 of the Hoya's 80 points last weekend. One final stat includes Chris Mullin's career record against Georgetown as a player is 4-8. Most hope that the coaching record can be a bit better than the player record moving forward.

 

Johnnies head to the Big East Tournament as the #8 seed vs. Georgetown Hoyas at 7:00pm on Wednesday night. The game can be seen on FS1, and heard LIVE on WSJU Radio with Joey Jarzynka and Michael Slavit with the call.

Joseph Jarzynka